The Grey Ghost

by Nicholas Cara

  Not seeing an immediate reason for the other team's panic, Bevine's team, in an orderly fashion, made their way to the exit. As they reached the doors, Stanley tried unsuccessfully to get the reason for the emergency from a number of the fleeing workers, however, the closer they made it to the exits, the louder and more distracting the alarms were. Finally, making it outside into the bellowing wind of the Scar, Stanley was shocked to see the mass exodus of the entire facility. He had never witnessed such a large-scaled evacuation before. The mill, made up of multiple buildings stationed separate from each other over the acres of company land, had never to his memory had a situation warranting the emptying all of the facilities. Such an act was against every procedure because of the chaos it would simply cause. But there before him, the crowd of hundreds either huddling together or running looked to be nearly every worker from every one of the Ole Barnes Mill's buildings.

  "What's going on boss?" Gary, the twenty-year veteran of the mill asked just as befuddled as his foreman.

  "I'm not sure buddy," Stanley replied grabbing the brim of his cap to hold it in place from the gust of wind buffeting them. "This better not be some sort of stupid drill."

  "CRASH!"

  The sudden explosive impact, a mere thirty feet behind the two, sent the workers diving for cover. Jumping back to his feet, Stanley looked back not believing his eyes as he saw a gray sedan’s trunk jutting out of the roof of Mill Station 008, the very workroom they had evacuated. Following the trajectory of the fallen car, Stanley was taken aback at the scene above him. There, as if now a snake slithering back and forth, hung the Trumbull Memorial Bridge seemingly writhing in its death throes.

  Not waiting or caring for an explanation of the horrific sight unfolding above him, Stanley reached down pulling at Gary still on the ground, and yelled,

  "Run!"

  As they did, they joined hundreds of others who, spurred on by the destruction threatening to rain upon their heads, had started a stampede away from the mill, all of them now running for their lives.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Kate slowly slid her hand farther up the side rail of the maintenance tunnel. Never taking more than one hand away from the two-handed, white-knuckled grip she had on the railing, the engineer made her away along the darkened tunnel under the twisting bridge. The maddening wave-like motions of the bridge were not isolated to the surface of the structure. Every single one of the twists and turns the Grey Ghost had contended with up above was reciprocated and at times magnified at its understructure, creating an even more difficult and arduous journey. At times the trek was stopped entirely leaving the two relying on their grips on the thin tunnel railing to stop them from being thrown through the open-aired wall.

  Kate refused to look back at the retching sound emanating behind her. Not that she didn’t feel or at the least sympathize with Patsy. She was actually impressed he had made it this far in this crazed carnival ride, however, the small control she was maintaining over her own breakfast wouldn’t allow her to even think of the hardened copper’s dilemma. Stopping for a few moments to allow Patsy to catch his breath, Kate called back over her shoulder.

  “Patsy you OK there big guy?”

  “Oh sure…Katie….never better,” Patsy replied even though his new greener complexion said otherwise.

  Pushing onward for another hundred feet, the adventurers finally found themselves unable to proceed any farther. The closer to the center of the bridge they traveled, the more the tunnel cut at vertical angles in front of them sending them flaying to the ground. Briefly, the two unsuccessfully attempted to climb the side rail as if the thin metal beam was both now a lifeline and a makeshift ladder.

  “Katie, this isn’t working!” Patsy yelled over the thundering wind echoing through the tunnel.

  “Just hold on Patsy!” Kate screamed back now hugging the side railing as the tunnel again fell from underneath her. Wedging her foot against the neighboring tunnel wall, Kate closed her eyes as she pinned herself across the tunnel trying to weather the storm of turns and twists.

  As the duo braced against the tunnel, minutes seeming like hours ticked away until Kate suddenly felt an eerie, almost weightlessness feeling come over her body. As it did she opened her eyes trying to gage her surroundings only to find the twisting tunnel around her suddenly completely still. Slowly lowering her foot down to the grating floor, Kate looked back at Patsy who returned a beaming smile in her direction.

  “That crazy bum did it,” Patsy said to her nodding his head while smiling. “The whole stupid thing is slowing down like you said it would.”

  “Well, let’s congratulate ourselves later,” Kate interjected looking down the now still darkened tunnel. “If we don’t stop the cause of all this it will just start up again. I doubt Joe can continue to control this whole section much longer.”

  “Well let’s get going then!” Patsy replied taking off at a dead sprint down the tunnel.

  As Kate took off after him, rain suddenly started to invade the open-walled tunnel as the storm finally arrived at the Trumbull Memorial Bridge. Spraying her across the face, the showers also quickly started to soak the grated metal flooring of the tunnel. Try as she might, Kate found herself falling behind the large detective as they ran through the tunnel, the soaked floor causing her heeled shoes to slip and slide all over.

  Losing Patsy around a curve, Kate heard the detective call back to her, his voice echoing off the metal walls.

  “Katie, here it is! I can’t believe this little thing is…..Oooff!”

  “Patsy!” Kate called ahead as she tried to catch up. “Patsy, are you OK?”

  As Kate rounded the curve of the tunnel she was met with a horrible sight causing her to stop in her tracks so abruptly she nearly toppled forward. Lying prone on the floor in front of her was the unmoving form of Patsy, face down against the hard metal grating. Above the downed detective with a murderous gleam in his eye stood the fiendish Doctor Rosán, a steel crowbar raised high above his head poised to strike.

  “So you are the big bad Grey Ghost huh?” Vega sneered stalking forward. “All the boys on the streets were crying to their mommies about a nobody in a stupid Halloween costume… pathetic….”

  Moving closer to the kneeling hero, the large villain started to rub the black leather glove over his right hand. Cracking each knuckle as he approached, the gunshot sound of each popping finger rang out even over the billowing storm surrounding them. Looking down at the crouching hero, Vega surprised himself with a subtle flicker of admiration for the smaller man. Not once did the man move as he had approached. There was no running away in fear or begging for his life as Vega had found the norm in his presence.

  “What hero, nothing to say?” Vega egged on, trying to provoke the man as he reached within an arm’s length of the hero. It would just not be sporting enough for Vega if the man did not even at least try to fight back. Where would the fun be in that?

  The Grey Ghost did not respond to the giant’s taunt. Up until that moment, he acted as if he hadn’t noticed the giant approaching him. He simply crouched on the pavement of the bridge with his hat covered head lowered as if studying the ground. Furious at the lack of response from the man, Vega swung his tree trunk of an arm at the lowered Spartan-clad head. Bracing himself for the satisfying crunching impact of his fist against the hero’s metal helmet, Vega was nearly pitched forward as the bearlike fist passed straight through the ghostly avenger’s face as if it wasn’t even there.

  Regaining his balance, Vega yelled out in frustration as he shot forward multiple punches and kicks at the man, only to find none of them making contact. As the giant tried to catch his breath, the Grey Ghost slowly raised his head to stare at the monster with unseen eyes.

  “Do you mind? I’m a little busy right now…”

  The monster-sized man, now fully enraged at the casualness he was being ignored, rushed the Grey Ghost lowering his shoulder to tackle the man only to find the shoulder connecting into the d
ark painted paneling of the Buick behind the hero. The hard impact stunned Vega sending him backward sprawling into a large puddle of rain water.

  Laughing in spite of himself, the Grey Ghost never lifted himself or more importantly his right hand from the paved ground of the bridge. Through that connection even with the distraction of the monstrous Vega attacking him, the Grey Ghost had been able to extend the mysterious power of the Spartan cloak to the bridge, calming it. As much as he wished to pummel the monster that killed Kate’s father, he knew the moment he released the bridge the chaotic twisting of the structure would return sending it and him raining down on the mill workers below. For the time being the satisfaction of the murderous giant stumbling around in the rain like an idiot as he tried to attack him would have to suffice.

  The enraged monster of a man slowly rose from the water ridden pavement unsuccessfully wiping at his soaked overcoat. Reaching up, the man ran his large hands over the streak of greased black hair smoothing back soaked strays that had flattened across his face.

  “Think you’re so smart don’t you hero?” Vega grumbled at the Grey Ghost.

  “Like I said big guy, I’m a little busy right now,” the hero chuckled back. “Please take a number and sit over there in the corner. I’ll get to you in a minute.”

  “The man thinks he is invincible,” Vega continued ranting into the air almost conversing to the storm around him. “He thinks his little parlor trick will keep him safe from me.”

  Reaching into his soaked coat, the monstrous villain smiled hideously at the Grey Ghost. Even as confident as he was, that devilish smile sent a shiver down the Grey Ghost’s spine.

  “The boss told me how to handle you and your little magic trick,” Vega continued, fumbling now inside of his large coat for a few seconds before holding out his weapon against the Grey Ghost, who at the sight of it was caught completely by surprise.

  There, covered by a glass enclosure protecting it from both the wind and rain of the storm was the flickering flame of a lit candle. As the Grey Ghost’s eyes made contact with the ignited wick, the same debilitating feeling that had earlier come over him in Kate’s room immediately washed over the hero. Falling to the pavement, the hero became soaked as the storm was no longer allowed to pass magically through him. The Grey Ghost barely had time to look up as the massive fist of Vega came flying down on the now unprotected face of a very solid Joe Bevine.

  “Stop!” Kate screamed rushing at the maniacal doctor just as he started to bring the crowbar down on the defenseless Patsy.

  Pausing midair, the gaze of the doctor’s coke-bottled glasses spun in Kate’s direction his eyes wide with a mixture of surprise and malice.

  “You, what are you doing here?” Rosán hissed at Kate completely caught off guard by the young woman’s presence.

  Raising her hands quickly in an unthreatening “I surrender” motion, Kate slowly approached the engineer never letting her eyes leave the deadly weapon still clutched in his hands.

  ”Just keep him talking,” Kate thought to herself, slowing her pace as she reached within a few feet of the doctor. “Just keep his attention away from Patsy.”

  “I said girl, what are you doing here?” Rosán bellowed, almost spitting out every word. The doctor’s face, whether because of the stress of the situation or simply his true nature finally bubbling to the surface, truly horrified Kate as she studied it. The man looked to be on the verge of madness and therefore capable of anything.

  "I'm just here… admiring your amazing work....SIR," Kate slowly lied plucking at the man's thinly veiled vanity. As she spoke, Kate eyed the oscillating machine spinning near Patsy. "An amazing achievement doctor, just to think..."

  "That's quite close enough dearie!" Rosán suddenly hollered jabbing the crowbar in between the inquisitive girl and his mechanical masterpiece.

  "Just to think..." Kate continued. "You are able to completely control and manipulate the physical characteristics of this entire bridge with this small device."

  "Ha! That shows what you know you foolish girl," Rosán chuckled darkly. "Just like that pompous father of yours, you both thought you could wrap those meager brains of yours around my genius. You actually think that someone could manipulate this entire bridge as I have with this one machine? You my dear are as truly puerile as those college buffoons find you pretty."

  Not taking the bait of Rosán’s remarks, Kate kept the conversation pinpointed on the machine oscillating in front of her.

  "Really, wow oh wow that’s super neat professor," Kate replied raising her voice slightly as she replied to the doctor.

  If the man wanted a dumb school girl, Kate decided she’d give him the airhead he expected, at least for now. Going for broke, Kate even started twirling her hair at the doctor and walking with an exaggerated yet clumsy flare she’d seen a few of the other girls at the university do purposely. She silently hoped she wasn’t overdoing the act.

  "You mean to tell me there are other super machines like this one around here, wowwie wow doc."

  "Of course you imbecile," Rosán sneered stepping closer to the young engineer. As he did, the doctor smiled enjoying the sudden fearful look crossing her pretty little face as he took a quick step toward her. "Multiple shakers had to be connected to the main supports of the bridge's exterior and then wired all the way here to this central hub. It took months for Minos's men to plant them in secret you see, my dear. Little soldiers all being lined up for our glorious day of fun. A lesser man would laud himself at the simple breaking of mankind's non-germane laws, but not I my dear. A man such as myself, who is capable of snapping the unbreakable laws of physics with his mind, can only transpire to higher exploits."

  "Ugh, if this guy doesn't kill me, he'll bore me to death if he keeps this up," Kate moaned silently as Rosán's seemingly pointless monologue continued. "Next time Patsy, I'll get hit in the head and you talk to the nutty professor. It's got to be less painful than this."

  As Rosán stood relishing in his own grandiose tale, Kate tried to block out the buffoon’s ramblings if only for a few seconds to take a peek at the destructive machine behind him. She took notice of two large insulated cords passing through sharply drilled holes in the concrete exterior.

  “Those have to be connected to the exterior shakers. Rosán must have some sort of…”

  Before she had chance to finish her thought, Kate was suddenly thrown forward into the deranged doctor as the floor underneath her started to pitch to the side slightly.

  "Ah, it seems Mr. Vega has removed whatever fly there was in our soup. As it was, we may once again proceed," Rosán smiled returning from his diatribe.

  Following his gaze, Kate noticed the open manhole a few yards down the maintenance tunnel, rain now pouring through the opening from the full blown storm raging above them.

  "Now there is nothing to stop my genius machine from tearing this bridge apart, modal by beautiful modal shape!"

  "Well what about you Mr. Genius?" Kate snapped in reply dropping the coy act. She simply had put up with enough of the stupid man. "Why are you so gleeful about going down with your ship?"

  "No, no, no my dear," Rosán chuckled now stalking forward slapping the crowbar in his palm threateningly. "That honor will belong to you and your large associate here alone. I'm saddened to say that once I've taught you one final lesson there should be more than enough time for me to make it to safety."

  "Well if it's all the same to you, doctor, I think I'll take an incomplete in that lesson," Kate quipped as she backed away to the wall of the tunnel.

  The structure, once again under the influence of Rosán's machine, was becoming increasingly unstable. Kate understood there wouldn’t be much time before the bridge's already weakened supports were irreparably damaged and after that there would be no turning back from its eventual collapse. Rosán had miscalculated; there would be no way for the pompous fool to make it off the bridge in time.

  "Spunky to the last, good for you girl," Rosán commended
positioning himself in the tunnel to effectively corner the female engineer against the passageway wall. "But I believe I must insist, and it seems that our little conversation as with all good things must come to an end."

  "Well it definitely seems that way doesn't it," Kate replied looking at the doctor and then quickly behind him before leveling her gaze at the man with a mischievous smile. "I guess we are going to have to resort to Plan B."

  “We?” Rosán asked.

  "Yeah, you mook…WE…"

  Caught off guard by the gruff voice suddenly behind him, Rosán never had time to react before he was roughly lifted into the air and in one single motion thrown as one would pitch a bag of trash into his nefarious machine with a resounding crash. As the screaming man slammed into his creation, the casters at the base of the machine that allowed the continual movement of the momentum pulling weights tripped off their locked rails. As the still moving pistons connected to those weights continued unabated, the now unbalanced machine quickly started to pull itself apart sending the detective and young engineer diving for the floor to avoid being hit by flying shrapnel. After a few terrifying moments the entire machine violently crashed down to the tunnel floor, as useless as its creator who lay unconscious next to it.

  "That's for calling Katie puerilish, whatever the blue blazes that means," Patsy huffed at the unmoving doctor.

  Walking over to Kate, Patsy helped her up as the walls stopped spinning around them. With the machine now destroyed, the bridge began a painfully slow return to its equilibrium state.

  “Patsy no matter how much I ever said I hated it, you can call me Katie anytime from now,” Kate smiled taking Patsy's hand. "By the way how long were you just going to lie there waiting?"

  "You’re the one who said we needed to know how the whole thing worked before I got to break anything," Patsy smiled back.

  "Never let me question your ability to take a hit in the head again big guy," Kate smirked. "And getting that bag of hot air talking was actually easier than I thought it would be."